Now every first and third Thursday each month, ANIMATED INSIGHTS BY SHANNON MUIR takes you inside Shannon’s latest reflections on her passion for animation as a medium, and other animated insights about life. To catch up on all posts, check out the Animated Insights portion of the website! This week, due to there being an extra Thursday this month, please enjoy this extra ANIMATED INSIGHTS column!
I remember when the original run of DUCKTALES came out as part of the Disney Afternoon. Admittedly, I wasn’t excited about it at first, but when I saw they’d added a young duckling named Webby, that got me more interested. Even in my teen years, seeing female representation in animation mattered to me.
So, when I heard that DUCKTALES would be coming back in a new iteration, I wondered how it would be. For starters, Donald would be part of this incarnation, when in the first version he had to join the service to write him out of the show and give a reason for Huey, Dewey, and Louie to live with Scrooge. Outside of that, the main cast of core characters would be the same. I wondered how the dynamic would be different, and if keeping Donald in the mix could even work.
Here’s the new beginning credit sequence, which already gives you a feel for some of the differences.
I’m pleased to say that not only did they find a way to make this new DUCKTALES mix work, depth has been added to many of the character backstories – from Scrooge’s past, to learning more about Donald’s sister (the boys’ mother), as well as a whole secret life for Mrs. Beaksley that makes the character bond between her and Scrooge McDuck even stronger.
It’s tough to say more without getting in spoiler territory. If you haven’t given the new DUCKTALES a try, Disney Channel offered the full one-hour pilot for Season One online. I’ve embedded it below from YouTube so you can watch it if you’re interested.
See you again next week, when I’ll discuss the new She-Ra series, SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER!